artsrichmond
DECEMBER NEWSLETTER
An eventful Christmas
I
t’s here again, and there are some great events to enjoy in December. There’s Peter Pan, of course, at the Richmond Theatre, with Bonnie Langford and Simon Callow, opening on Friday, 5 December (0870 060 6651), and Mary Goes First at the Orange Tree Theatre from Wednesday 17 December - until 13 December, the Vaclav Havel season, with Leaving in its British premiere season) on most days and the Havel Bonanza (all five plays) on Saturday 6 December. (020 8940 3633).A Christmas Carol is Teddington Theatre Club’s Christmas special at the Hampton Hill Playhouse from 6 to 13 December, and there’s a carol concert there on Friday 19 December at 7.45 pm. Tickets for both from 0845 838 7529. The Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington has Carols by Candlelight on Saturday 20 December at 7.30 pm (020 8977 7558).
At the Mary Wallace Theatre on Twickenham Embankment the Richmond Shakespeare Society is doing the immortal (and invisible) Harvey from 12 to 20 December (020 8744 0547).
The Barnes Charity Players are performing the popular musical Me and My Girl, directed by Keith Perryl at the Kitson Hall, Barnes, from 2 to 6 December (020 8748 9825).
Christmas music . . .
But it’s music, of course, that brings out the full glory of the season. Christmas music includes:
The Barnes Choir’s concert on Saturday 6 December is at 7.30 pm at All Saints Church, East Sheen Avenue: Bruckner’s E Minor Mass and Three Motets, and Respighi’s Lauda per la Nativita (020 8940 9824)
On the same day, 6 December, Putney Choral Society’s Fauré’s Requiem and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (part), plus Britten and Purcell, at St Paul’s Church, Augustus Road, Wimbledon Parkside, at 7.30 pm (07909 981278)
On Saturday 13 December, Teddington Choral Society presents Festival for Christmas with Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir, Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer, Charpentier’s Te Deum, and carols for choir and audience, at St Mary with St Alban, Ferry Road, Teddington at 7.00 pm (Albert’s Music Shop, Heath Road, or 020 8898 3245). Coffee and mince pies to follow.
Whitton Choral Society’s traditional Christmas Concert on Saturday 13 December at 7.30 pm in Whitton Baptist Church, Hounslow Road: Bach to Rutter, Spanish music and carols (admission at door).
Thameside Harmony Chorus’s Christmas Concert on Wednesday 3 December at 7.45 pm at the White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton: four part close harmony (020 8979 1884 and at door)
The Eel Pie (jazz) Club has its Christmas Party (for members and guests only) on Wednesday 10 December at 9.00 pm at The Patch, 67 London Road, Twickenham (07732 322610).
St Mary’s Mortlake Tower Appeal has its final appeal event from Thursday 11 to Saturday 13 December: the family musical pantomime Follow the Star (020 8785 6880)
… and more music
Barnes Music Society
has Jessica Chan (piano) on Wednesday 3 December at the Methodist Hall, Barnes, at 8.00 pm: Beethoven, Bridge, Debussy, Prokoviev and Bach/Busoni (020 8876 1563).The Richmond Concert Society’s programme on Tuesday 9 December is Paul Watkins (cello) and Huw Watkins (piano), with Beethoven, Debussy, Elliot Carter, Schumann and Brahms at St Margaret’s Catholic Church at 7.45 pm (membership 020 8892 1456).
The Florestan Trio has a ‘festive treat’ on Saturday 13 December at 7.30 pm in the Great Hall, King’s College School, Wimbledon Common, with the premiere of a new arrangement of Janacek’s Kreutzer Sonata, plus Martinu and Beethoven (020 7731 1940).
The Dysart Arms in Petersham has Masayuki Tayama (piano) playing Beethoven, Mozart and Rachmaninov on Sunday 7 December at 7.30 pm (07967 481 625), and then Alan Barnes (sax/clarinet) and John Pearce (piano) on Thursday 18 December (free but booking advisable: 020 8940 8005).
artsrichmond news
AGM and Christmas party
Thursday 4 December at 7.30 pm, Hampton Hill Playhouse.
This is an opportunity to discuss artsrichmond’s work, elect new members of the executive committee, thank our outgoing Presidents, Isla Blair and Julian Glover, for their great support during the year, and welcome our new Presidents for 2009, Lee Langley and Lady Camilla Panufnik.All members are invited, and if you would like to stay on for wine and mincepies, and chat with your friends, you are asked to make a donation of £5 to cover costs, and to let the office (020 8892 9446) know you are coming
If you would like to nominate members for
the Executive Committee, or have business to discuss, please let us know.
There'll be a consultation session for members after the brief formal business.
Anne Lawley, who is responsible for the borough's new Community Television, will
talk about the new opportunities it offers, and Pam Frazer will talk about our
new and improved website.
Choral Workshop: Jenkins’s The Armed Man
There’ll be a great choral workshop to give singers a chance to polish up their vocal skills under professional tuition on Saturday 7 February at St Edmund of Canterbury’s Church, Nelson Road, Whitton, starting at 9.45 am. Doors open for registration + coffee at 9.00 am.
The workshop will be conducted by John Sutton, Musical Director of the Hampton Choral Society, who will lead us through this accessible, powerful account of the terrible consequences of war. This will be an enjoyable, professional and highly rewarding day. Fee to attend: £10 inclusive of music hire (£8 for concessions and Friends of the Arts). Please book via the office on 020 8892 9446
Farewell, Josie, welcome, Sian
Sadly, Josie Shantonas, who has been our most effective Executive Officer for the past three years, is leaving us for new pastures. We are enormously grateful to Josie for her great contribution to our work.
Happily, Sian Morgan is taking over the role. Sian has been a senior civil servant in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and brings valuable experience to our activities.
New Writing Competition
The biennial New Writing Competition in memory of Roy Purdue will be at the Orange Tree Theatre on Sunday 22 March. Details from Edie Purdue on 020 8891 4991.
Musical and literary Soiree with the stars
Our next big social – and fund-raising - event is a glamorous soiree at the Musical Museum in Brentford. The Museum is a marvellous local musical treasure, recently reopened in a splendid new building just across Kew Bridge. It houses a superb collection of automatic musical instruments. The soiree is on Monday 9 February at 7.30 pm – doors open at 6.30 pm. After a demonstration on the Museum’s Mighty Wurlitzer, authors Anne Sebba and Anne de Courcy will talk about their fascinating biographies of Jenny Churchill and Tony Armstrong Jones (both consorts of celebrities with ‘interesting’ lives of their own), and the brilliant American pianist, Miriam Brickman, who has a home in Richmond, will give a piano recital on the Museum's Steinway.
The booking fee of £15 includes a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, admission to the galleries with demonstrations of some of the automatic instruments (controlled entry will be necessary to ensure comfort) and a two-for-one future entry ticket. 020 8892 9446.
ShowCoach
arts
richmond’s ShowCoach programme features carefully selected plays and concerts, excursions and holidays, usually with excellent seats at discounted prices and with coach pick-up at locations within the borough.18 December: Christmas concert at the Royal Albert Hall (fully booked)
14 January: Mary Goes First at the Orange Tree Theatre (no transport)
11 February (tbc): The Pitman Painters at the Royal National Theatre
4 March (tbc): Twelfth Night at Wyndhams Theatre
24 April 2009: 5 day holiday in Jersey
26 June 2009: World War 2 40's Weekend. 4 days
21 September 2009 (new date): Constable Country. 6 days
Film
Richmond Film Society
is screening Moliere, directed by Louis Tirard (France) on Tuesday 2 December, and Son of Rambow, directed by Garth Jennings (UK/France) on 16 December. The Society meets at 8.00 pm at the Richmond Adult Community College, Parkshot, Richmond. Membership 020 8893 3503.Visual arts
Richmond Art Society's
December meeting is on Tuesday 16 December at 7.30 pm at the Vestry House, Paradise Road, Richmond: Marina Vaizey, the eminent art critic, on Twentieth Century Women Collectors (Members and their guests only: 020 8940 9806).The East Moseley Fountain Gallery also has a special occasion with an exhibition of by the Gallery Owner and Fountain Gallery Member Andrew Blyth’s latest work, Watercolour Interpretations, from 25 November to 7 December. The exhibition covers a wide range of subject matter - historic buildings, seascapes, animals, dramatic landscapes and abstract works, including local scenes of Hampton Court and other well-known locations. Andrew’s exhibition is followed by the Fountain Gallery Christmas Exhibition from 9 to 24 December.
2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the Gallery’s opening, and there will be a special exhibition in January where all members will be exhibiting in an affordable art show (020 8941 5865).
Richmond Hill Gallery is exhibiting works by Anthony Green RA from 14 November to 6 December, then Philip Sutton at eighty from 8 December until 25 January (020 8940 5152)
Orleans House Gallery
opens Wish You Were Here: Postcards from the Edge, on 6 December, and the exhibition continues into February. At the Stables Gallery there’s 2D – 3D – portrait sculpture and photography by Avril Vellacot and Anne Purkis, from 4 December to 11 January. At the Riverside Gallery, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond, Floating, the exhibition by Richmond Printmakers, presents mono-prints, intaglio, relief and other experimental techniques, including an exciting array of affordable images, until 10 January (020 8831 6000).The Environment Trust for Richmond upon Thames's December art picnic is on Sunday, 7 December at Grove Gardens Chapel: Christmas card-making workshop, from 11.00 am until 4.00 pm. Then there’s an exhibition and party at Orleans House on 14 December. More information from 020 8891 5455.
The Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society has regular twice-weekly meetings: on Thursdays general meetings with talks, prints and/or projected images, at St Luke's Kew Community Centre in The Avenue, Kew at 8.00 pm; and on Tuesdays specialist group meetings at MWB Business Exchange, 5 Kew Road. See
www.rtps.org.uk for more details. Membership 020 8892 5710.Libraries and museums
The Curators' Choice at the Richmond Museum is on display until 17 January 2009. It will be followed by an exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession (020 8332 1141).
Teddington Library is closed for complete internal refurbishment for about four months from November. During the closure, opening hours are extended at both Hampton Hill and Hampton Wick libraries .
Twickenham Museum has a new exhibition, Then and Now, which will be opened by the Mayor on Saturday 13 December at 12 noon. The exhibition shows a wealth of images relating to well-known views of the changing face of the old borough of Twickenham and how they appear now.
Talks and lectures
Borough of Twickenham Local History Society:
Monday December at 8.00 pm, Tracey Borman of English Heritage looks at the life and times of Henrietta Howard at Marble Hill. St Mary's Church Hall, Twickenham. (020 8878 7041).Richmond Local History Society: Monday 8 December at 7.30 for 8.00 pm, Paul Velluet on The Transformation of East Sheen: architectural diversity in the making of a 20th century suburb. Paul’s talk will be followed by the Society’s Christmas Party. Duke Street Church, Richmond. (020 8891 3825).
Richmond Scientific Society: Wednesday 10 December at 8.00 pm. Douglas J Garrod of the Gemmalogical Association on Gemstones, followed by wine and nibbles. Vestry House, 21 Paradise Road, Richmond (020 8977 8551).
U3A (University of the Third Age): Tuesday 16 December, closed meeting for members on The Genius of Gilbert and Sullivan, by Robert Lowe, with music. Clarendon Hall, York House, Twickenham at 2.30 pm. Wednesday 17 December, pub lunch at the New Inn, Ham Common, from 12 noon (020 8744 9364).
Richmond Association for the National Trust: Thursday 4 December – Christmas Buffet Lunch in the Orangery, Ham House (020 8894 9262).
Le Cercle Français de Richmond: Thursday 11 December, John Rogister on Des chateaux sous la Revolution and Soiree de Noel, Vestry Hall, Paradise Road, Richmond from 7.30 to 9.30 pm (020 8892 6139).
Richmond Society: Thursday 11 December at 7.30 pm. AGM, Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond (020 8948 0643).
Lee Langley: a profile
Lee Langley, the distinguished author who lives in Richmond, will be proposed as Joint President of artsrichmond for 2009 with Lady Panufnik (profiled in the November issue of this newsletter) at the AGM on 4 December.
Lee Langley is well-known in Richmond as the presenter of Desert Island Books at the Orange Tree Theatre each November, a task she has performed brilliantly for sixteen years and which is now a popular part of the borough’s Book Now! Literature Festival. The event is always sold out within days of being announced.
One reason the event is so popular is that Lee is herself a brilliant novelist – she’s written nine so far, plus a volume of short stories, poetry, a West End stage play, and many newspaper and magazine articles on travel and the arts. She is a leading member of PEN in campaigning for imprisoned and oppressed writers around the world. She was a member of the Literature Panel of the British Arts Council and in 1996 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Lee was born in India, and has set three of her novels there: Changes of Address is a largely autobiographical account of her childhood in India, and the first of a trilogy set in India, followed by Persistent Rumours, set partly on the Andaman Islands between India and Burma, which won the Writers’ Guild Award for best fiction and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Eurasia Region, and A House in Pondicherry. The Sunday Times review said "This richly evocative novel confirms her brilliant gifts". Moving westward, Distant Music, published in 2001, begins on the Portuguese island of Madeira in the 14th century and ends in London in the year 2000, a time-travelling love story set against tumultuous historical events.
A favourite has to be her latest novel, A Conversation on the Quai Voltaire, a deeply researched and imaginative fiction, based on the life of Napoleon’s friend, artist and art collector, Vivant Denon. It’s an adventure story interwoven with the Fascinating tale of the collector who travelled (and loved) dangerously around Europe, galloped across Egypt with the Emperor and created the Louvre as we know it today. The Spectator said of it: "She brings the man and his world thrillingly to life."
Lee’s next novel, to be published in 2009, is set in Japan and America in the middle of the twentieth century. Lee will talk about it at the artsrichmond book picnic on Richmond Green on Sunday 10 May, when she’ll be in conversation with wit, former MP, author and Barnes resident, Gyles Brandreth, who himself will be telling us about his deep researches into the life and work of Oscar Wilde for his new, best-selling mystery series in which Wilde is the private eye. Lee will also be on parade for our musical and literary soiree at the Musical Museum in Brentford on Monday 9 February, when she’ll be introducing a talk between biographers Anne Sebba (Jenny Churchill) and Anne de Courcy (Tony Armstrong Jones) – both books dealing with famous consorts of celebrities leading less-than-straightforward lives.
She is married to Theo Richmond, whose autobiographical social history, Konin: A Quest, was described by Jan Morris as ‘one of the most moving and unforgettable books I have ever reviewed’, and which won four literary prizes and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Lee feels she has always been something of an outsider, an exile from India and, perhaps, the world. ‘Exile’, she says, ‘can be a sort of freedom for a writer’, and her books rejoice in an internationalism, what today, before the current crisis, I suppose we might have called globalisation, a tolerant and liberal world view. However, Lee has lived in Richmond for 40 years, has brought up three children and written all her books in Richmond and says she wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. We are fortunate to have such a perceptive writer for President in 2009, a year which promises to present all too many new challenges.